Is it possible to find the ideal plaything? Toys made of wood may be the next best thing. Maria Montessori advocated for wooden toys and other "real" toys created from natural materials like these for their positive effects on children's health, safety, and creativity. Wooden toys are not only attractive but also long-lasting; several of the earliest playthings have been found to be crafted from wood.
A simple, exquisitely crafted wooden toy can captivate a child's attention without overwhelming them and spark their imagination without directing them.
Here are eight good reasons to go for wooden playthings:
They help kids pay attention
Research shows that playing and learning spaces with natural elements like wood help kids concentrate, focus, and even calm down more than other types of spaces. More specifically, touching the wood physically calms kids down. This means that playing with wooden toys can have a neurological effect on a child's brain.
"Contact with wood produces physiological relaxation," the National Institutes of Health study revealed in 2017. Toys that encourage a calmer and more continuous play setting are especially helpful for young children's brain development in today's age of overstimulation and continual input.
More functions = fewer toys
Babies and toddlers only need a few different toys because they can quickly become overwhelmed by having too many options. This attitude is exemplified in the sparse environments of Montessori and Waldorf homes and schools, which typically only have a small selection of flexible, open-ended wooden toys.
It was shown in a 2018 study that when comparing play conditions for toddlers with 16 toys versus 4 toys, the "Four Toy condition" had higher quality play "as evaluated by sustained play and variety of manners of play."
When children have fewer options, they tend to develop stronger attachments to the toys they do have. Wooden toys encourage kids to use their imaginations and play with one object for longer because of their versatility.
They encourage imaginative play and the study of cause and effect
There is an abundance of toys with plenty of screens, bright colors, and lots of noise. Features like this provide instant satisfaction for kids, but they can also limit their chances to practice critical thinking and creativity.
Because wooden toys are usually less complicated, they can help kids reach developmental milestones in a way that flashy toys can't. Babies start to understand cause and effect better around 9 months. For example, banging a block on the ground makes a noise, and dropping one makes it go away. This idea is summed up in a wooden toy that looks like a puzzle: "When I do something, it makes something else happen."
Wooden toys also provide a child with a beautiful, tactile, open-ended "blank canvas" to investigate at his or her own pace and terms. The additional bells and whistles that can make other toys instantaneously more appealing tend to restrict and direct children's play.
They are a calm way to get used to the real world
Toys are one of the first things kids touch, put in their mouths, and play with, so they teach them a lot about how the real world works. Simple wooden toys teach kids about physics, cause and effect, the permanence of objects, creativity, problem-solving, and a lot of other important things in a quiet, calm way.
Yes, a determined infant or toddler can make noise out of anything, but wooden toys are typically quieter, promoting a more tranquil playing environment devoid of the commotion (not to mention lights and movement) of many plastic toys.
They inspire
Toys made of wood are ideal for building new worlds from start. Puzzles and other wooden toys can be transformed into anything a child desires, and they can accompany a child's progression from simple symbolic play to complex imaginative play.
Montessori practitioners (along with a large number of other educators and caregivers) believe that straightforward, natural materials frequently result in deeper and more sustained engagement. Whether they are building a city, racing the wooden car, or constructing a train track that extends from room to room, children can use their developing imaginations to construct, invent, tinker, pretend, and create.
They teach kids about math and physics
Wooden puzzles and other toys require dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and tons of fine motor precision to stack and balance. They also support important skills for learning math like pattern matching and recognition. To stack and balance wooden puzzles and other toys, you need to be dexterous, have good hand-eye coordination, and have a lot of fine motor skills. They also help with important math skills like matching patterns and recognizing them.
Because there are no magnets or locking systems to keep such things as wooden blocks together, kids have to work on coordinating their hands and eyes to build and balance the different parts. When a child puts the sixth block on top of a tower and it falls over or when a ball rolls down a ramp, they are learning about physics.
They endure
There is a reason why wooden toys are often given as gifts, passed down, or inherited. They can't be broken, but if you take care of them, they'll last a long time. Young children are encouraged by Montessori to play with toys and playthings in their own way.
For babies and toddlers, this may mean repeatedly putting things in their mouths, throwing them, and rolling them. This means that safety is an important thing to think about when choosing toys: which ones will last and still be safe as the child gets older? Wood is one of the safest things in nature for babies and young children.
They’re aesthetically appealing
While aesthetics may not be at the top of everyone's agenda when shopping for a toy, it is important to consider it when looking for durable playthings. Whether they are stained, painted, or left natural, wooden furniture, toys, artwork, and other decorative items have a timeless beauty.
Clean lines, attractive (but not extremely bright) colors, and perfect order all contribute to a soothing atmosphere that is important to the Montessori approach to education. Toys made of wood work well in these settings because they are durable, aesthetically pleasing, and simple to maintain.